Black and white

Black and white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, and hyphenated black-and-white when used as an adjective, is any of several monochrome forms in visual arts.

Black-and-white images are not usually starkly contrasted black and white. They combine black and white in a continuum producing a range of shades of gray. Further, many monochrome prints in still photography, especially those produced earlier in its development, were in sepia (mainly for archival stability), which yielded richer, subtler shading than reproductions in plain black-and-white.

Media

Some popular black-and-white media of the past include:

Movies and animated cartoons. While some color film processes (including hand coloring) were experimented with and in limited use from the earliest days of motion pictures, the switch from most films being in black-and-white to most being in color was gradual, taking place from the 1930s to the 1960s. Even when most studios had the capability to make color films they were not heavily utilized as using the Technicolor process was expensive and the process cumbersome. For many years it was not possible for films in color to render realistic hues, thus its use was restricted to historical films or musicals until the 1950s, while many directors preferred to use black-and-white stock. For the years 1940–1966, a separate Academy Award for Best Art Direction was given for black-and-white movies along with one for color.

Plot

Elliot Anderson (Kevin Costner) is widowed after a car crash leads to the death of his wife. Elliot has raised his granddaughter, Eloise, since his daughter died in childbirth. As he struggles with his grief, Elliot's world is turned upside-down when the child's black grandmother, Rowena (Octavia Spencer), demands that Eloise be brought under the care of her father, Rowena's son, Reggie (Andre Holland), a drug addict whom Elliot blames for the negligence that led to the death of his own daughter. Elliot finds himself deeply entrenched in a custody battle and will stop at nothing to keep his granddaughter from coming under the watch of her reckless father.

Black & White

Black turns to white just once moreCan't realize what's happened - out of the blueJust a spark of faith and a little bit of courageTo learn from a mistakeIt's simple to see something so rightHow could I've gone wrong at all?This time it's black and whiteDay turns to night like beforeDoes it have to be a challenge - no time to thinkThe truth behind this all is so sureWhy not forget about the hateThere is room to breath butHope can fade away